Spider-Man
is a Japanese tokusatsu TV series aired from May 17, 1978 to March 14, 1979 on TV Tokyo 12 Channel. It was produced by Toei Company, Ltd and slightly based off the Marvel Comics series of the same name. "Spider-Man" is notable because it is Toei's first series to use the concept of the hero fighting a monster which enlarges, requiring the hero to summon a giant robot to battle it (though some episodes of Toei's 1967 tokusastu series [[Giant Robo (show)|''Giant Robo]] had those elements). This became a staple of Super Sentai beginning with'' Battle Fever J. Story Young motorcycle racer Takuya Yamashiro sees a UFO falling to earth, in fact a space warship named the "Marveller" from the planet "Spider". Takuya's father Dr. Hiroshi Yamashiro, a space archaeologist, investigates the case, but is killed upon finding the spaceship. The incident also brings the attention of Professor Monster and his evil , an alien group that plans to rule the universe. Takuya follows his father to the Marveller and discovers the last survivor of Spider, who gives him a bracelet that gives him special spider-like powers and the ability to control the ship and transform it into a giant robot called "Leopardon" for battle. Using his powers, he fights Professor Monster's army and other threats to Earth under the name Spider-Man. Characters Allies *Hitomi Sakuma *Shinko Yamashiro *Takuji Yamashiro *Dr. Yamashiro *Garia *Ichiro Murakami *Juzo Mamiya *Detective Go Tachibana Iron Cross Army *Professor Monster *Amazoness/Saeko Yoshida *Bella *Rita *Ninders Machine Bem *Machine Bem Boukunryu (1): Powers include size changing, left arm pendulum that fires missiles, a metal hood for headbutting, and twin blades for the right arm. *Machine Bem Soutoukin (2): Powers include head levitation, head lasers, size changing, and hook arms. *Machine Bem Genyouchu(3): Powers include eye flashes that cause hypnosis, pincer claw hands, high jumping, size changing, wing hurricane winds, and a grappling hook mouth on a wire. *Machine Bem Mer-man(4): Powers include swimming, a blade in each arm fin, head gas called Machine Gas, and size changing. *Machine Bem Chojinju (5): Powers include size changing and six cannons for the left hand. *Machine Bem Robacular (6): Powers include enhanced smelling, size changing, and three missile launchers for the left hand. *Machine Bem Sasora(7): Powers include burrowing, hand pincer claws, launchable forehead poison needles, size changing, and phasing through matter. *Machine Bem Cat Demon Monster (8):Powers include manipulating electricity around her, an entrapping detachable tail, high jumping, venomous claws, size changing, mouth flames, and a launchable right arm attached to a chain. *Machine Bem Kabuton(9): Powers include a laser beam from the right pectoral, size changing, a left hand bladed claw, a head horn, and retracting limbs for a slide attack. *Machine Bem Snake Woman (10): Powers include a human disguise, a snake for the left arm that emits fire, and sleeping mouth mist. *Machine Bem Sea Devil (Movie): Powers include swimming, mouth torpedoes, and size changing. *Machine Bem Shinkaioh (11): Powers include spraying cold foam from the mouth, a clam form, a venomous trident, size changing, and right hand missiles. *Machine Bem Biker Monster (13): Powers include acid globs from the tongue, a scimitar, and size changing. *Machine Bem Big Bat (14): Powers include ceiling hanging, a human disguise, surveillance bats, high jumping, size changing, and a right hand ax. *Machine Bem Killer Unicorn (15): Powers include dual horn cannons and size changing. *Machine Bem Centipede (16): Powers include size changing and a left arm spike. *Machine Bem Samson (17): Powers include a rocky body, size changing, and a chained mace. *Machine Bem Carnivorous Plant (18): Powers include mouth gusts, mouth acid spray, remote vines, camouflage, and size changing. *Machine Bem Kamenger (19): Powers include swimming, a left hand clamp, and dual torso cannons. *Machine Bem Primitive Man(20): Powers include a spiked club and size changing. *Machine Bem Tanto Buffalo (21): Powers include a machine gun left arm and size changing. *Machine Bem Skeleton Beast (22): Powers include teleportation, creating illusions, a staff, grenades, and size changing. *Machine Bem Sorceress Beast (23): Powers include a machine gun in the butt, emitting thick fog, an empowering laser from the right eye, and size changing. *Machine Bem Cockroach Machine (24): Powers include a toxic gas sprayer on the head and size changing. *Machine Bem Ganima (25): Powers include torso foam, teleportation, a machine gun on the left claw, and size changing. *Machine Bem Volcano Beast(26): Powers include body sparks, size changing, and mouth rockets. *Machine Bem Magni Catfish (27): Powers include magnetism, detection, a tentacle under each eye, size changing, and dual head harpoon cannons. *Machine Bem Bomb Wolf (28): Powers include bombs, a right arm 7-tube gatling gun, twin back missiles, and size changing. *Machine Bem Monkfish (30): Powers include a head lamp laser and size changing. *Machine Bem Kinokongar (31): Powers include hallucination mushrooms from the body, size changing, and a machine gun in the torso. *Machine Bem Electric Worm (32): Powers include burrowing and size changing. *Machine Bem Fire Fox (33): Powers include entering dreams, a left arm flamethrower, and size changing. *Machine Bem Scrapman (34): Powers include a left wrist machine gun, an acidic gas sprayer called scrap gas, and size changing. *Machine Bem Tiger Pump (35): Powers include dual hip 3-tube gatling guns and size changing. *Doctor Miracle (36): Powers include shape shifting and size changing. *Enma Devil (37): Powers include a blowgun that fires poison darts and bullets, a staff, a reviving potion, invisibility, and size changing. *Machine Bem Toothache Alligator (38): Powers include sharp teeth, swimming, and size changing. *Super Human Fighter (39): Powers include a pair of sais and size changing. *Great Wrestler (39): TBA *Air Bomber (40): Powers include a machine gun on each wing and size changing. Arsenal Weapons *'Spider Protector': Spider-Man's suit. *'Spider Bracelet': Spider-Man's henshin device. *'Spider Strings': A rope made of spider webbing shot from Spider-Man's Spider Bracelet. *'Spider Net': A net made of spider webbing also shot from Spider-Man's Spider Bracelet. *'Spider Machine GP-7': Spider-Man's flying car. *'Leopardon': Spider-Man's mecha. Episodes # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # Special A special interview titled Stan Lee Interview in USA: Toei Spider-Man meets American Spider-Man was featured in the DVD release box in 2004. Movie A theatrical version of ''Spider-Man was shown on the Toei Manga Matsuri film festival on July 22, 1978. It was directed by series director Kōichi Takemoto and written by Susumu Takaku. The movie was the first appearance of the character of Juzo Mamiya, who subsequently appeared in three episodes of the series (episodes 11, 12 and 14). Because of this, the movie takes place between episodes 10 and 11. In Marvel's video site for the series, the movie is listed as "Episode 0". Cast * : *Hitomi Sakuma: Rika Miura *Shinko Yamashiro: Izumi Ōyama *Takuji Yamashiro: Yoshiharu Yabuki *Professor Monster: Mitsuo Andō *Amazoness: Yukie Kagawa *Garia: Toshiaki Nishizawa *Dr. Hiroshi Yamashiro: Fuyuki Murakami *Jūzō Mamiya: Noboru Nakaya *Rita: Rie Rinehart *Bella: Tina Margo *Narrator: Tōru Ōhira *Spider-Man (suit actor): Hirofumi Koga Spider-Man Actors/Actress who have appeared in the Super Sentai Series *Mitsuo Andō - Professor Monster ** ( ) *Shōzō Iizuka - Machine Bem ** and ( ) ** ( ) ** ( ) ** ( ) ** ( ) **Morgumorgu ( ) ** ( ) ** ( ) *Yukie Kagawa - Amazoness ** ( ) *Hiroshi Miyauchi - Detective Go Tachibana ** /Aorenger ( ) ** /Big One ( , , and ) ** ( , and ) *Noboru Nakaya - Juzo Mamiya ** ( ) *Shinji Tōdō - Takuya Yamashiro/Spider-Man ** ( ) Notes *Spider-Man was originally going to have a sequel in , which would have featured a hero called Captain Japan, who was going to just basically be Captain America's equivalent. Japanese adaptations and character designs based on 70's Marvel Superheroes "3-D Man" and "Moon Knight" were to also have been made by Toei as apart of their agreement with Marvel but these too fell through. *Until 2013, Marvel had the entire series available to view for free on its website. This is most likely due to licensing issues with Toei, as some of the characters of the show were created by them and thus trademarked to Toei Co LTD. **The same problem applies to Toei, as they borrowed the rights to Spider-Man character from Marvel and thus any potential future video release is impossible unless authorized by Marvel Entertainment, who is now owned by the Walt Disney Company. ***The companies did manage an agreement in 2005 for a Japanese DVD Release, but the commercials advertised that this would be the ONLY time it would ever see release, as both companies would not agree a deal to future re-releases or a Region 1 DVD release. **This can be compared to the infamous licensing issues which plagued the Batman 1966 TV series, as legal battles between 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers kept the series held from getting any kind of home video release for 48 years. *In 2014, the Toku Spider-Man and Leopardon appeared in American comics for the first time as part of a Spider-Verse event which crossed-over many of the existing Spider-Men throughout comics and other media. They have made several appearances in Marvel Comics since. *The scenes of Spider-Man walking in downtown Shinjuku in Episode 23 were shot guerrilla style, since the producers did not ask for a permit to film those scenes. External Links *Spider-Man at Wikipedia *Archived Marvel page *Supaidāman (TV series) at the Marvel Wiki *http://web.archive.org/web/20100210162222/http://www.henshinhalloffame.com/spiderman/ Category:Shows Category:Toku Super Hero Productions Category:Marvel Category:Toei tokusatsu Category:Live Action Adaptations